


Love

by JadeFalcon



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Cancer, Character Death, Consensual Underage Sex, Death, Declarations Of Love, Depressing, Desire, Discovery, Educational, Ejaculate, Ejaculation, F/M, Falling In Love, Fondling, Friendship/Love, Loss of Virginity, Love, Male-Female Friendship, Mentions of Cancer, Multiple Orgasms, One Shot, Oral Sex, Orgasm, Orgasm Control, Original Character(s), Pain, Penis In Vagina Sex, Sad, Sad Ending, Sex, Sex Education, Teaching, Underage - Freeform, Underage Character(s), Underage Sex, Vaginal Sex, Virginity, dying, lubrication, vagina
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-11-09 04:02:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11096478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JadeFalcon/pseuds/JadeFalcon
Summary: Sixteen year old Hermione Granger is dying of terminal cancer.  And she has a dying request for her best friend, Harry Potter.WARNING: Story contains underage characters!





	Love

**Author's Note:**

> Just a quick heads-up: there are no other main characters in this story. This is purely a Harry/Hermione story. Ron does not exist, and there is no mention of other characters besides Hermione's parents and other friends from Hogwarts; in only minor roles.
> 
> This story has been floating around inside my head for a while now. I think it's a very beautiful, precious idea and I want to celebrate it here. It will be 4 chapters long.
> 
> This story is slightly personal for me. Cancer has touched my family in many ways. Two of my three aunts on my mother's side of the family (her sisters) are dead from cancer, and she herself has survived it three times. My best friend's mother also died of cancer four years ago.
> 
> I didn't want to use a bunch of tags in this story, because it's not going to be smutty and that isn't what I want this story to be about. This story is purely about love; expressed through sexual intimacy.
> 
> Enjoy.

It was difficult for sixteen year old Harry Potter to come to terms with this.

His best friend had brain cancer.  And she was dying.  And there was nothing that he could do about that.

They had been best friends since they were 6.  Now she had cancer, and there was nothing that he could do to stop it.  There was nothing _anyone_ could do to stop it.  For as far as magical medicine had come, it was not yet to the point of being able to stop the spread of cancer.

It started with a suspicious-looking mole behind Hermione's left ear, which her mother noticed one day after she complained of headaches.  The headaches had gradually gotten worse, and the sight of the ominous dark spot on her skin was cause for alarm.

After a few months of testing, the results were dire.  The mole was melanoma, and cancer cells had formed in her brain.  The Healers had given her six months to live after she was diagnosed with Stage 4 Glioblastoma in December.  It was now July, and her life was on borrowed time.  The disease had spread to other lymph nodes throughout her body, but thankfully the potions that she was taking daily still allowed her to keep most of her bodily functions, including limited movement; sometimes even unassisted.  They also helped ease her many pains and feelings of fatigue.

It really bothered him.  He'd lost far too many people in his life.  His mother, his father, Sirius....

"Harry?"

A soft voice on the bed next to him broke him out of his depressed stupor.  He blinked and turned his head to look at his best friend.

She was frail.  Her beautiful brown hair was gone from rounds of newly-tested radiation therapy using magical properties which had never been tried before by the Healers at St. Mungo's.  It was her mother's idea, in fact.  Doctor Jane Granger, though only a Dentist, had insisted that the Healers try mixing controlled radiation with magic in an effort to control the disease.

It had failed.

Hermione's skin was wane and pale; splotchy with redness, and the beautiful blush on each cheek had long disappeared.  Dark bags had set in under her brown eyes, and her lips were permanently chapped.

Harry set the book that he had been reading to her in his lap.  "Hmm?  What is it, love?" he asked gently.

Hermione smiled softly at him.  "You stopped reading."

Harry glanced down at the open cover of _The Wind in the Willows_ , which was one of Hermione's favorite stories.

"Oh?  I'm....I'm sorry."  He shook his head, clearing away his gloomy thoughts.

Hermione blinked sleepily.  "It's okay," she murmured.  "I'm a little sleepy anyways."  She snuggled into her pillow.

Harry stood up quietly and reached down to pull the comforter up around her.  He bent and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, then turned to leave.

"Harry?"

The raven-haired boy turned back to the bed.  Hermione propped herself up on her right elbow to look at him, grimacing as she did.

"Yes?  Are you warm enough?  Do you need some new blankets?"

Hermione smiled and shook her head.  "Can I ask you a personal question?"

He sat down gently on the edge of the bed, turning to look at the pale girl as he did.  "Of course you can."

Hermione looked apprehensive for a moment and worried her bottom lip with her teeth.  She didn't meet his gaze at first, but she soon brought her brown eyes up to look at his dazzling green ones.

"Are you a virgin?" she asked quietly.

Harry was taken aback.  Of all the things he expected her to ask, this was not one of them.  Not even close.

He brought his hand up without thinking about it and rubbed the back of his neck nervously.  "Err...yeah.  Yeah, I am."

She nodded thoughtfully, a slight blush staining her cheeks.  "So am I."

Harry smiled slightly.  "Oh?  Haven't found the right person yet?"

"Hmm," she replied.  "Before I was sick, I thought that I would have time to consider who I want to share that experience with.  It wasn't something that I thought much about....you know....sex".  She muttered the last word; her blush deepening.

Harry gave a nervous laugh, but wasn't quite sure what to say.  Masturbation was frequent for him, as it was with most boys his age.  But he didn't give a lot of thought to actually having sexual intercourse with someone.

Hermione was suddenly very quiet.  After a moment, she spoke softly.  "I don't want to die a virgin, Harry."

The green-eyed boy shifted nervously on the bed.  "Well....uh....I....sorry...." he said quietly.

"Will you help me?" she looked hopefully at him.  "I know it's dumb, but I've been thinking a lot about it since my diagnosis.  This is something I want to experience...before...."  She left the rest unspoken.

Harry felt a jolt of sadness, but smiled apprehensively.  "Well...yeah, I guess I could.  Did you...um...have someone who...you know...that, err..."

She reached out and took his hand gently in her own; silencing his stuttering sentence.  "You."

Harry sucked in a sharp breath.  "Me?!  'Mione....!"  He was shocked.

Hermione smiled.  "There is no one else who I trust more than you to share the experience with."  She reached her hand up to cup his cheek affectionately.

It was at that moment, as Harry gazed into her eyes, that he realized just how deeply he cared for Hermione.  He wasn't sure what to call it; he had always loved Hermione as a friend.

But...if this was a romantic love that was giving his heart an extra beat in his chest, then he would embrace it.

Harry turned his head and nuzzled the palm of Hermione's hand gently with his nose, and then took her hand in his and kissed her palm as sweetly as he could.

Hermione smiled with her eyes before yawning deeply and snuggling back into her pillow.  Harry released her hand and tucked the comforter back up to her chest before leaning down and leaving another kiss; this time with far more affection, upon her cool forehead.

Her eyes were already closed.  "You'll think about it, yeah?" she murmured sleepily.

Harry whispered back.  "Absolutely."

 

*************

 

"Absolutely _NOT_!"

Harry was standing in the office of Chief Healer Anastasius Focht, who was Hermione's assigned Healer.  He was an expert on cancer, and had spent the better part of 50 years conducting research on the disease.  His dimly lit office was buried high in a tower at St. Mungo's, with a roaring fire and shelves stacked to the ceiling full of old tomes and scrolls from his countless hours of study over the years.

Harry had gotten to know the wizened old wizard very well over the past year, and even considered him a friend.  But the man was very strict...as was evident by his outburst.

His floor-length white beard emphasized his small stature, and shook as he addressed the young man before him in a shrill but sharp voice.  "Mister Potter....have you taken complete leave of your senses?!"

"Do you think so?"

Anastasius coughed indignantly, looking incredibly insulted.  "I should say so!  Miss Granger is in no condition whatsoever for sexual intercourse!"

This was Harry's fault.  He had gone straight from Hermione's house to St. Mungo's to consult Healer Focht on Hermione's request.

Harry thought for a moment.  "Well...what's the worst that could happen?  It's not like sex is a _bad_ thing."

"Hurph!" Anastasius snorted.  "Countless things!  In her state, you could quite easily hurt her!  She is very weak and frail!"

"Don't you have a potion that could help with that?"

"Harry!" Healer Focht held up his hand.  "When she can walk up two flights of stairs without breaking a sweat, then she can have all of the sex that she so desires."

Anastasius turned on his heals and walked to his desk.  "If it was up to me, she would be under the strictest care here in the hospital."  He lowered his old frame into a leather-bound chair behind his desk with a groan.  "But that meddling muggle mother of hers...." He left the muttered statement unfinished.

Harry understood the Healer's frustration.  Healer Focht and Doctor Granger were not on the best of terms.  Focht was very mistrustful of muggle medicine, which insulted Doctor Granger greatly.  They had engaged in many heated discussions and a few shouting rows about what was best for Hermione's care.  It got to the point where Hermione herself had to step in one day and calmly insist that the Healers try radiation therapy.  But she had also agreed to Focht's pleas for magical treatments as well.

For Anastasius's part, he had grown to deeply care for the girl in his care.  Hermione reminded him of his own daughter, Jenna, who was kidnapped and brutally murdered twenty years ago by Lord Voldemort after the Healer refused to assist him with his ascension to power.  Only throwing himself into his work relentlessly had helped him cope with the overwhelming grief that had consumed both he and his wife.

Anastasius, therefore, wanted only what was best for Hermione.  And it was only out of respect for her that he kept his relationship with Hermione's mother respectful.  But that did not mean that he liked the woman, or agreed with her stance on medicine.

Harry sat down in a chair across from the old wizard.  He knew that the Healer held Harry in very high regard for defeating Lord Voldemort when he was a baby.  He saw it as a form of revenge for the murder of his daughter; the power of love, given to Harry by his mother, had defeated a force of hatred and darkness.

He addressed the man in a soft tone.  "Ana," he called him by his shortened name.  "I want to share this experience with this woman.  She trusts me enough to want this."

The Healer said nothing, but regarded the green-eyed young man in front of him through round glasses.

Harry continued.  "You have my utmost promise that I will do _nothing_ to hurt her.  And I promise to communicate carefully with her, so as to do only what she is comfortable with."  He leaned forward.  "Please help me, Ana.  I love Hermione, and I want to fulfill this wish with her."

Healer Focht said nothing for a long time.  He stroked his beard and stared off into the unknown.  He knew that this was a losing battle.  Trying to stop two young people from having sex was next to impossible.  He didn't need his decades as a Healer to come to this conclusion.

He finally addressed Harry, a tone of deep concern in his voice.  "Merlin, Harry....you must be so, _so_ incredibly careful with her.  Please.  I beg of you...." his voice trailed off as his throat tightened with emotion.

Harry smiled warmly.  "Of course I will.  You have my word."

They spent the next hour talking about various details, many of which made Harry blush and give half-muttered replies.  All the while, Anastasius reminded Harry of the seriousness of such an undertaking.

"Communication is indeed the key," he said as he searched for various bottles of potions on his shelf for Harry to take with him.  He picked up random bottles, muttering to himself, before replacing them.

He finally gathered what he had found on his desk.  There were four bottles with four different colors of potions within, and topped by a small cork.  One red, one yellow, one blue, and one green.

The Healer picked up the red bottle.  "This is for lubrication.  Her body is very dehydrated right now because it has triggered a survival mode, which draws in all the moisture in her body to her inner organs to sustain them.  This will help her achieve natural lubrication for her vaginal tissues.  It should only take a minute or two for the potion to work."

Harry squirmed uncomfortably at that, but the Healer ignored him, and picked up the green bottle.

"This will give her a minor bit of energy.  Only enough for some minor movement during sex.  You will likely need to do much of the work."  He regarded Harry with a piercing look.  "I trust you don't have a problem with that?"

Harry stiffened.  "No sir."

"Right.  Good."  He picked up the blue bottle.  "This will help ease any cramps or aches she may have afterwards.  I'm afraid that there isn't a potion for easing the pain of losing one's virginity, nor that which occurs during the act of sex.  That is just a part of being a woman."

Harry nodded.

Anastasius picked up the final bottle.  "And this is just her daily cancer treatment potion.  During my last visit two days ago, she was running low.  I will have the potions masters brew up some more and I will bring it by her house in two days time."

Harry nodded.  He plucked his wand from his belt and conjured up a small fabric bag, which he carefully placed each bottle within.  He closed the satchel up and placed a protection charm upon it.  


Healer Focht moved to a large book shelf nearby and looked it over while muttering to himself.

"Ah, there it is!"  He waved his wand and a large white book hovered down into his hands.  He retreated back to the desk and handed it to Harry.

"This is a book about sex.  It should be of great help to the both of you.  You may keep it."

Despite the fact that they had just spent an hour discussing various intimate details pertaining to sex and the risks involved of performing it while being so ill, Harry still found himself blushing uncontrollably.  "Err....thank you sir."

The old wizard regarded him with resignation.  Then he drew Harry into a warm embrace.  "I am a better man for having met you, Harry Potter," he murmured affectionately.

Harry returned his embrace warmly.  "And I you, Ana.  Thank you for everything."

He drew away, and Anastasius patted his cheek.  "You remember what I said.... _be careful!_ "

"Yes sir."  Harry smiled.  He gathered up the bag and tucked the book under one arm.

Anastasius walked him to the door and opened it.  They both exchanged a wave before Harry disappeared down the narrow hallway.

The Chief Healer closed the door behind him and walked back to his desk.  He settled himself comfortably and opened a drawer to retrieve his long-stem smoking pipe.  Lighting it with his wand, he dove into deep thought.

_ They'll be alright. _

 

**_ To be continued in Chapter 2: "I Must Be Going". _ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took the liberty of borrowing the name "Anastasius Focht" from the BattleTech/MechWarrior science-fiction book series (owned by FASA and WizKids respectively). He was a main character (the Precentor-Marshall of ComStar) in the story line during the Clan Invasion of the Inner Sphere (if you've never read the books, then you have no idea what I'm talking about). I needed a very "wizard"-sounding name, and his was the first that immediately sprung to mind.
> 
> In the BattleTech/MechWarrior series, he's not a small man with a beard; rather, he's a tall man, well fit, with an eye-patch and no facial hair. Incredibly intelligent, he was a life-long Military officer and hero, not a man of medicine.
> 
> All credit for the name and character, therefore, goes to the many authors who wrote that series, as well as FASA, who published the original books. After many years which saw the total publication of about 70 books from various authors, as well as many technical books and readouts to go with the computer and board games which followed, FASA sold the rights to the BattleTech/MechWarrior series to WizKids.
> 
> To my knowledge, sadly, this epic story line ceased publication just a few years after WizKids bought the rights to it, due to poor sales. However, if you are interested, you can catch up on all of it here:
> 
> http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Main_Page
> 
> Seyla, my Clan bothers and sisters.

**Author's Note:**

> I want to personally thank everyone for reading, and offer my apologies that my other stories are taking so long to get finished. I am as frustrated by that as all of you, because the only thing I want to do here is post great work as often as I can. Life has kept me busy at times, so I apologize. But I am working on them when I can nonetheless!
> 
> So thank you again for reading! Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated.
> 
> Also, please note: anonymous commenting is disabled for this story, as well as all of my work. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.


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